Sand Dollar Beach Anchorage

03/19 - 3/20/2016  23 30.832N,   75 44.599W    Sand Dollar Beach    1.5NM

Hi,

Saturday morning, before moving over to Sand Dollar Beach, we went into town planning to stop at the BATELCO and Tourism offices to find out why our sim card doesn't recognize our phone for voice mail, and pick up a map of the trails on Stocking Island.  Being the Bahamas, both were closed for the weekend.  A quick stop at the Shop Rite provide ice cream bars to soothed our frustrations.  We took the walk around Lake Victoria, stopping to check out St Andrews Anglican Church, the pretty church on top of the hill - a beautiful setting.

St Andrews Parish Church in Georgetown

View of Lake Victoria from St. Andrews Church

The wind had died Friday evening, requiring screens to keep the bugs out.  While the screens do a decent job of keeping the bugs at bay, they also limit airflow, and when the wind doesn't blow, it gets warm down here.  Fans help!  And ours were on to keep the cabin comfortable.  The lack of wind didn't charge the batteries either, so we moved over to Sand Dollar rather than just run the engine at anchor.  We found a spot with surprisingly calm water given the S wind, a tad shallower (8') on one of the swings at low tide, but should be great once the wind clocks through to the N and NE with the front arriving Monday afternoon.  While the anchorage at Regatta Point had better wind protection from the S, it wouldn't once the wind switched, and we like Sand Dollar for its access to a number of trails on Stocking Island, and we'd avoid hunting for a spot to anchor with the crowd at Regatta once the front arrived.

Sand Dollar Beach anchorage

After lunch we hiked the S end of the island.  The trail runs on or behind the beach on the W, along the cut between Stocking and Elizabeth islands, and eventually to the top of the bluff overlooking the sound, before cutting across the island to the beach.  We had some great views of the waves breaking on the sound and back across the harbor.  It was a wet dinghy ride into the waves going back to the boat.

Looking S along Stocking Island from the top of the bluff

Looking down at the reef E of Stocking Island

We were waiting for Iemanja with the Reuters to join us.  We leapfrogged them while they spent a several days exploring Lee Stocking, and they indicated they'd join us at Sand Dollar sometime Saturday.   With the wind a steady 18-20 from the S-SE most of the day, it would be a windward sail to the harbor.  Eventually we got an email saying they'd stopped by Monument Beach (about 1NM N) around 1600 for the night rather than take a chance on a slot by us.  

Manana with Iemanja setting the anchor just beyond them

In the morning, I was surprised to see Manana, the Schneiders from MBBC, next to us.  The Reuters soon arrived and anchored just beyond them - amazing to have 3 VT boats anchored in a row this far from home.  We spoke with the Schneiders who were headed over to Long Island for the week - we were tempted to join them since it would be a nice sail over and a good spot to sit out the NE winds. We thought about seeing if the Reuters were up for the trip too, but with their 6' draft, they'd need to anchor further out, where it might be a bit lumpier.  Hopefully we'll catch up with the Schneiders later.  We plan to get together with the Reuters later today - they made a quick run over to the Exuma Market by dinghy - being a Sunday, they're only open from 10 - 12.  Nothing this far S and E in the Exumas operates 24/7, and with Easter week approaching, most shops will be closed Friday, part of Saturday, and all day both Sunday and Monday.  It pays to plan ahead!

Leonard gave me a haircut Sunday morning (a first - I've been his stylist for over 50 years), looks fine, but I haven't checked at the back yet.  As the morning progressed, the 7' depths at low tide got Leonard's attention, usually I'm  the one who worries, so we'll look for a slightly different spot to anchor.  We're approaching spring tides (again!) and subsequent low will drop about .1' per day until we get past the full moon.  Once we're set, we'll see if the Reuters are interested in a walk ashore.